Can a trigger open the Resources tab

Feb 21, 2014

Louisa Fricker
By Louisa Fricker

Can a button, trigger, or hyperlink be set to open the Resources tab?

For context: I'm making a course in Storyline are there are several PDFs in the Resources tab. A couple of my slides say "remember to check the Resources tab for XYZ." It would be neat if I could hyperlink the word "Resources" so it opens the Resources tab. (To be clear, I don't want to open a particular PDF, I just want the Resources list to open.)

Thanks!

34 Replies
Christine Hendrickson
10 years ago02/21/14 at 11:50 am (UTC)

Hi there, Louisa!

You're correct - you can link to a single resource, but not the tab itself. However, there are some options that may work for you. Personally, I would recommend creating a lightbox slide instead and store your documents/links here. Then, you could simply open the lightbox slide from the "Resources" hyperlink you'd like to use in your slide(s). 

Another option, though it may be a little more time-consuming, would be to make a layer on your slide(s) that is designed similar to the Resources tab. You could even apply some transition effects if you'd like to get creative. 

In the meantime, if you'd like to see some additional functionality for the Resources tab, I recommend getting in touch with our development team. Personally, I'd love to see some additional player triggers - including the ability to call/close a specific tab. 

Thanks and best of luck! :)

Michael Whatley
10 years ago03/18/14 at 11:58 am (UTC)

Christine Hendrickson said:

You're correct - you can link to a single resource, but not the tab itself. However, there are some options that may work for you. Personally, 


Christine,

You make it seem like there's a way to link directly to a resource on the resource tab.  Is that correct?  For example, if I have a PDF listed in the Resources tab, can a button trigger that resource to open rather than pointing to a file location?

Thanks,

Michael

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard
10 years ago03/19/14 at 7:48 am (UTC)

Hi Michael,

Absolutely - you'll want to follow these steps to link to a resource within your resource tab:

Here's how:

  1. If you haven't already done so, add the file to the Resources tab in your player.
  2. Then navigate to the slide where you want to link to the file attachment, and select the text or object that you want to be hyperlinked.
  3. Go to the Insert tab, and click Hyperlink.
  4. When the Trigger Wizard launches, select Jump to URL/File from the Action drop-down list.
  5. In the File field, type the following text (but replace MyFile.xlsx with the name of your file, including the appropriate file extension): 

    story_content/external_files/MyFile.xlsx
  6. Select the event that you want to execute this trigger from the When drop-down list, such as "User clicks". Here's an example of a completed trigger: 
  7. Click OK.
  8. Publish.
Pete K
over 9 years ago09/19/14 at 10:24 am (UTC)

I don't see any benefit to following the steps above since adding a file to a slide that already appears in your Resource doesn't actually duplicate the file in any way. That's because when Storyline publishes the output, any duplicate files in the course with the same name are only contained once in the output. You can confirm this by testing the duplicate file process, then going to the published output folder location, look in /story content/external files. In fact, pointing to a file in the resources tab can cause more work since any future changes made to the file name or location of files in the resources tab, will require you to make updates to the triggers that are pointing to these files. If the necessary changes aren't made to those triggers, you're then left with a broken interaction. Unless you are keeping file names the same after each update, the process above does not lead to a reduction in file maintenance when changes are made to the Resource tab files.

Brian Allen
over 9 years ago09/19/14 at 10:41 am (UTC)

Pete the Greek said:

The process above does not lead to reduction in file maintenance when changes are made to Resource tab files as some would assume.


Hello Pete, I would have to respectfully disagree, and would absolutely advocate Ashley's solution as a best practice.  

I believe that it is generally expected that when you need to update a resource like this the location and file naming needs to remain the same, or something is going to break.  Only needing to find and update that file in one location is a huge boost in efficiency for me!

Pete K
over 9 years ago09/30/14 at 11:32 am (UTC)

Yes, I agree that not changing the file name is the ONLY way in which triggers to the Resources tab would work without causing more maintenance. However, what happens when you have version control protocols in place in which the file name needs to reflect updates made (e.g. file_v3.b or file_2014.doc). Then you are required to change both links in which case resource tab triggers are not efficient. And I've also had strange instances when keeping the file name the same for the purpose of reducing maintenance of links but was still led to the old file even when clearing my browser's cache. Other users have reported similar issues with documents not updating properly here. This isn't consistent but I've had this happen on more than one occasion and the only workaround for me was to rename the file. So for these reasons, I am motivated to change triggers on both ends. However, it basically comes down to what process you are using based on your project's requirements and whether your documents are updating properly each time.

Kathy Cockcroft
over 9 years ago10/16/14 at 4:51 am (UTC)

Ashley Terwilliger said:

Hi Michael,

Absolutely - you'll want to follow these steps to link to a resource within your resource tab:

Here's how:

  1. If you haven't already done so, add the file to the Resources tab in your player.
  2. Then navigate to the slide where you want to link to the file attachment, and select the text or object that you want to be hyperlinked.
  3. Go to the Insert tab, and click Hyperlink.
  4. When the Trigger Wizard launches, select Jump to URL/File from the Action drop-down list.
  5. In the File field, type the following text (but replace MyFile.xlsx with the name of your file, including the appropriate file extension): 

    story_content/external_files/MyFile.xlsx
  6. Select the event that you want to execute this trigger from the When drop-down list, such as "User clicks". Here's an example of a completed trigger: 
  7. Click OK.
  8. Publish.
Hi Ashley - I thought your posts were the answer to my quandry but I get the message that the file cannot be found.  Am I doing something wrong?  I have uploaded the file from my laptop.  Thanks
Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard
over 9 years ago10/16/14 at 7:41 am (UTC)

Hi Kathy,

Did you mean to upload a file here? I didn't see anything attached. Where are you linking the file from? You'll want to try linking it from your local drive and ensuring you're working with local project files. Additionally when you go to test the published output, please test within the intended environment as described here. 

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard
over 8 years ago10/09/15 at 8:11 pm (UTC)

Hi Helen, 

Thanks for that update. File corruption is always a tricky thing to figure out and there's no straightforward way to determine what causes it. Common causes are environmental (disk errors, power outages, improper shutdowns), viruses, failed Windows updates, and even file size (i.e., very large files have a higher risk of corrupting).

Consider these preventative measures to protect your project files:
 
 
2) Save incrementally. If your app has an AutoRecovery feature, take advantage of it. If not, save a new version of your project every hour or so with a new file name each time. If a file becomes corrupt, you'll still have a working version available.
 
3) Install Dropbox. Snapshots of changes in your local Dropbox folder are kept for 30 days. If a file is damaged or deleted, you can restore a previous snapshot: https://www.dropbox.com/help/11/en.
 
4) Don't leave the app open and unattended for long periods of time. Some users have reported file corruption after leaving their apps open overnight. It's possible that a malware scan or disk backup could run because the machine is idle, making your app vulnerable to crashing.
Helen Reid
over 8 years ago10/13/15 at 8:46 am (UTC)

Hi Ashley, I'm having trouble with this again.  It's just strange.  In some modules it works while in others - I get an error message once published.  I've even tested using a page that works in one module but won't in another file.   Am I able to send a file through for you to look at as I'm at a loss.  Helen

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard
over 8 years ago10/13/15 at 12:38 pm (UTC)

Hi Helen,

What is the error message you're receiving? Are you testing the published output in the intended environment or on your local drive? 

You can share a copy of the .story file here and we'll want one of the documents to so that we can look at linking it. You can attach it using the "add attachment" button at the bottom of the reply - and if you'd prefer to share it privately you can also send it along to me privately here. 

Lee-Ann Williams
over 5 years ago08/09/18 at 10:09 pm (UTC)

Just finally got this to work, because

The example uses forward slashes /, but it should be backslashes \.

You have to turn on the Resources tab in the player. It's not enough to just upload the pdf as a resource. If you look at your publish folder and there is no external files folder, that's why, because unless you turn on the tab, the pdf doesn't publish.

EDIT: I realized later that I could just fake the same outcome by using the folder created when I published with the Resource tab showing. (Probably could have even made it from scratch). So, I turned off the Resource tab, then added the pdf to the publish folder manually. So, I created the file link in the trigger that reads story_content\external_files\myPdfFile.pdf, then placed a folder in story_content called external_files, and inside that is my pdf. Works like a charm and no need to show the tab.

My LMS team reports that it works as expected in SABA.

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